Letterman noted, "John McCain lasted five years in a prisoner-of-war camp in North Vietnam. Even he couldn't get through Lieberman's speech."

Otherwise, the shows focused on really old news -- Larry Craig's toilet was the nexus of a long "Daily Show" skit and a Letterman one-liner -- or old jokes. Letterman and NBC's Conan O'Brien, for example, had gags about Palin being a gun owner and thus "a firm believer in shotgun weddings."

Bristol Palin's pregnancy, in fact, remained fodder for many of the jibes.

And there were, as there seemingly ever have been and ever will be, sallies about McCain's age.

"This week McCain was endorsed by the gay group known as the Log Cabin Republicans," O'Brien joshed. "They endorsed him not because he supports gay rights, but because he was actually born in a log cabin."

"John McCain arrived in Minnesota last night," Leno cracked. "The last time McCain was in Minnesota, he was shooting buffaloes from a train, so it's been awhile."

It was left to Letterman to come up with perhaps the second-best line of the night, largely because it has the ring of truth:

"Is it just me or does Sarah Palin look like a model for LensCrafter?"